Coach Michael Malone of the Denver Nuggets was less concerned about Anthony Edwards’ 43 points or another poor start after the Minnesota Timberwolves crushed the defending NBA champions 106-99 on Saturday night in the first game of their second-round series.

The Wolves moved to 5-0 in the playoffs and forced the Nuggets into a series deficit—something they never experienced when winning it all last year—all because to the Nuggets’ allowing Edwards’ hot hand to ignite his supporting group.

Yes, I didn’t worry about the beginning. The time was 18:04. Having not practiced all week, Jamal Murray was unable to make a shot. Malone, whose club will attempt to even the series in Game 2 on Monday night, expressed concern more about their defense in the second part of the game.

After halftime, “I believe they were shooting 90%” at one point.

With a 73.7% shooting percentage in the third quarter, the Timberwolves overcame a 44-40 halftime deficit to take a 73-68 lead into the fourth quarter, when Minnesota continued to shoot well, making 13 of 19 attempts.

For a 71% shooting clip in the second half, that is 27 of 38.

Naz Reid started moving. Then Karl-Anthony Towns started. Mike Conley got things going, and in the first half, Anthony Edwards was the clear winner, according to Malone. However, I felt that there was not nearly enough physicality or discipline in the second half, and they were able to acquire anything they desired.

“In the second half of a playoff game, seventy-one percent is unacceptable.”

Particularly considering that Jamal Murray, the MVP of Denver’s first-round victory against the Lakers, scored 17 points in the end despite having zero points at the half for the first time in his 59 career playoff game. Michael Porter Jr. had 20 and Nikola Jokic had 32.

Jokic remarked, “It seemed like they made a lot of shots, especially the second half.” A few of them were visible. A few of them were closed. It is included in basketball. We simply need to force them to make harder shots or extra passes in order to force them to work harder for the basket. We need to get better at that.

Edwards scored 25 of his 43 points in the first half, but his teammates didn’t really assist him until they emerged from the locker room and were unstoppable.

Malone declared, “If we let four guys get away with it like that, it’ll be a quick exit.” ANT will thus receive his. We are capable of performing far better on everyone else.

The Wolves were this hot following halftime: The only player from Minnesota to miss multiple shots was Edwards, who was 7 for 12.

It’s never easy to double Edwards and take the ball from his grasp. due to the Wolves’ potent offense, which saw all five of their starters average double digits in points during their sweeping of Phoenix in the first round.

Porter remarked, “I mean, every good team has multiple weapons.” “When teams double Joker, we have capable guys that can make shots” and force them to pay, which is one of the things that makes us effective.

Comparable to them. If you double-team ANT, he might be swinging the ball to competent players like KAT, Mike Conley, or Jaden McDaniels. Thus, it’s undoubtedly a balance and something that needs to be shown on screen.

The Nuggets defeated the Lakers 3-0 at Ball Arena in the opening round of this season after going 10-1 at home to earn the team’s first NBA championship last summer.

Porter responded, “Yeah, we definitely want to bounce back, especially in our home arena.” “We must commit from the outset. We are aware of this team’s exceptional talent and that the series will be drawn out. And the series is going to be excellent. All we need to do is grab the next one.

The focus in Round 1 was on slowing down the Sun’s quick starts, but against Denver, assistant coach Micah Nori of the Timberwolves had to concentrate on limiting Denver’s ability to shut out opponents in the fourth quarter. Finch is recovering from knee surgery, which required him to sit in the second row.

Nori remarked, “So we just talked about taking care of the basketball and making sure we get good shots and went from starting games to closing games.”